Human Rights day observed in Gilgit
Safdar Ali Safdar
Gilgit: Speakers in a seminar urged the youth to lead the nation against human rights violations by diverting minds towards a positive change. The seminar was jointly organized by the GB chapter of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) and Publishing and Extension Network (PEN) in connection with the International Human Rights Day. The event was attended by human rights and civil society activists, journalists, youth and students from different institutions.
“The purpose of this seminar is to commemorate this day in 1948 when the United Nation General Assembly adapted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” said HRCP Regional Coordinator Israruddin Israr while briefing the participants. He said that the international community is stressing on to protect human rights but we are going against our own rights. Just recently a bill to legislate on early marriages was opposed by some lawmakers in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, he added.
Defining the role of human rights activists, Israr said that our duty is to highlight and defend the rights of deprived people in a peaceful way. “Protection of the right is responsibility of the state and not of the human right activists and youth and civil society need to understand this.
Speaking at the occasion Professor Ejaz Ahmad Khan of PEN said that violations of human rights have been increasingly observed in our society for last many years. Our youth needs to play their roles to aware people about issues by changing their minds, he added.
The participants of the seminar along with others held a candle light vigal in front of the Gilgit Press Club in memory of those who lost their lives in defending human rights.
